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One of the most respected folk DJs in North America has lost her job due to a station format change. Mary Cliff, host of "Traditions" on WETA in Washington, DC, has been downsized due to the station going all-classical. As the local airwaves continue to get less diverse, it is even more sad when one of the great over-the-air folk shows disappears. Internet radio cannot take up the slack for such losses.

Washington Post story on Mary Cliff

Update: 1/30: Mary Cliff has been hired by WAMU, another station in Washington, DC, to move her show to Saturday evenings from 11 pm to 1 am. It's only 2 hours (it was 4 on WETA), and it's later in the evening, but Mary Cliff is back on the air.

Labels: Folk News, Folk Radio

More new adds for the Online Folk Festival:

• Joe Mannix - A Town By The Sea
• Erik Balkey - My Sacred Heart
• Hope Machine - March
• The Mad Maggies - Magdalena's Revenge
  

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival

Added tracks from 3 new albums to the Online Folk Festival over the weekend:

• The Possum Trot Orchestra - Harbor Road
• Junction Pool - Junction Pool
• The Wyrd Sisters - Wholly

I'm really making an effort to get through the black hole that has become my backlog of CDs to listen to.

I'm really impressed with the Junction Pool CD. They bill themselves as Celtic Big Band, and they add some really nice jazz touches to traditional Celtic music, including a horn section and some very cool jazz chord progressions that one would not typically find in traditional music. For those that like music that fuses elements of different genres and traditions, this is a group worth checking out and following - this is their debut CD.

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival, Reviews

Because we all know that a shot helps the medicine go down.

http://www.drinkinggame.us/

But, please drink responsibly and get a designated driver. Better yet, designate someone to listen to the speech for you and play some Yahtzee with your family.

The FOLKDJ-L Top 250 Albums of 2006 by airplay have been released and posted to the list (although they have not yet been posted to the website).

• Of the Top 10 albums, had you been listening to the Online Folk Festival, you would have heard 9 (90%).
  
• Of the Top 50 albums, you would have heard 33 (66.0%)
• Of the Top 102 albums (3-way tie at 99), you would have heard 64 (62.7%)
  
• Of the Top 125 albums, you would have heard 78 (62.4%).
• Of the Top 250 albums, you would have heard 128 (51.2%)

Some more new adds:
Artist - Album

• Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
• Wes Weddell - Songs To Get You From Here to There
• Adam Snyder - This Town Will Get Its Due
• Kelly and David - As the Twilight Auguries
• Johnny Cash - Live in Austin, TX
• John Starling and Carolina Star - Slidin' Home
• Cadillac Sky - Blind Man Walking
• Bert Jansch - The Black Swan
  

Labels: Folk Radio, New Adds, Online Folk Festival

Tracks from the following CDs were added to the Online Folk Festival last night:

Artist - Album

• The Carter Family - The Carter Family
• Robert Bobby - Today
• Felonious Bosch - New Dark Ages
• Dan Gonzalez - Public Square

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival

Still working through the backlog of holiday mail. Plus, I've resubscribed to emusic.com. Anyway, here are some of the newest adds to the Online Folk Festival:

Artist - Album

Eamonn Coyne and Kris Drever - Honk Toot Suite
Joan Osborne - Pretty Little Stranger
Various Artists - Live From Studio A Volume 10 (WCBE-FM, Columbus Ohio)
Dave Rowe Trio - The Good Life
Kim and Reggie Harris - Get On Board: Underground Railroad and Civil Rights Freedom Songs Volume 2
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Greg Trooper - The BackShop Live
Clive Batkin and Joel McDermott: G-Force Trousers

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival

Top 40 of the last 30 days on the Online Folk Festival, as rated by the listeners:

Artist - Song - Album

1. The Love Hall Tryst - Jack in the Green - Songs of Misfortune
2. The Schramms - Duck Hunting in Hell - Little Apocalypse
3. Southern Rail - Caroline's in Carolina - Cool Tattoo
4. Salamander Crossing - Color Outside the Lines - Passion Train
5. Smithfield Fair - Walking Through This World - Walking Through This World
6. Richard Shindell - Transit - Courier
7. Tim Harrison - Train Going East - Tim Harrison
8. Rig the Jig - Kathleen Hehir's-Stick on the Hob - Passing Through
9. Tracy Grammer - Hey Ho - Flower of Avalon
10. The Waifs - Gillian - A Brief History Disc
11. Joni Mitchell - River - Hits
12. Red Molly - Oh My Sweet Carolina - Never Been To Vegas - Live
13. Old Blind Dogs - The Wisest Fool - Gab O Mey
14. Tom Paxton - I Can't Help But Wonder - Live In The UK
15. Ricky Skaggs & Friends - Blue Moon of Kentucky with John Fogerty - Big Mon: The Songs Of Bill Monroe
16. Tom Rush - Urge for Going - Live at Symphony Hall, Boston
17. Ralph McTell - Streets of London - From Clare to Here: The Songs of Ralph McTell
18. Mason Jennings - Lemon Grove Avenue - Use Your Voice
19. The Kennedys - Gypsy Rose - Songs of the Open Road
20. 5 Chinese Brothers - If I Ain't Falling - Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief
21. Cheryl Wheeler - On the Plane - Defying Gravity
22. Blind Boys of Alabama - Many Rivers to Cross - Higher Ground
23. David Stoddard - My Town - Hesselville
24. Bill Mallonee - Stain Glass Soul - Friendly Fire
25. Liz Carroll & John Doyle - Fremont Center, The "Vornado", Minutemen (reels) - In Play
26. Flogging Molly - Factory Girls (feat. Lucinda Williams) - Within A Mile Of Home
27. Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul - Paddy in Zululand - Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
28. Chris de Burgh - Last Night - Live in Dortmund
29. The Kennedys - Namaste - Half A Million Miles
30. Jed Marum - The Locket - Miles From Home
31. Linda Thompson - No Telling - Fashionably Late
32. Robin Flower and Libby McLaren - Sue's Delight/Patsy's Pitchers/Steelhead in the Riffles - Steelhead in the Riffles
33. Oysterband - The Oxford Girl - From Little Rock to Leipzig
34. Chris and Siobhan Nelson - The Bold Dragoon - Day Has Dawned
35. Amy White and Al Petteway - If I Were a Blackbird - Golden Wing
36. Tracy Grammer - Preston Miller - Flower of Avalon
37. Solas - Nil Na La - Reunion: A Decade of Solas
38. John Renbourn - Willy o'Winsbury - The transaltlantic anthology
39. Jeff Talmadge - A Soldier's Christmas - Blissville
40. Cathie Ryan - What Will You Do, Love? Duet with Sean Keane - The Farthest Wave

Labels: Online Folk Festival, Top 40

In the last month, listeners to the Online Folk Festival have been from the following countries (in order of listening time in hours, with all countries logging more than 1 hour of listening time listed):

Country

• United States
• Canada
• Portugal
• Czech Republic
• France
• Australia
• Israel
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Colombia
• Finland
• Bahamas
• Italy
• Japan
• Spain
• Turkey
• New Zealand
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Taiwan
• Croatia/Hrvatska
• Poland
• Denmark
• Brazil
• Morocco
• Sweden
• South Africa
• Latvia
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Mexico
• China, People's Republic of
• Romania
• Norway
• Luxembourg

Still sorting through the holiday mail and purchases after being in Florida for a week, so if you sent me something to preview, it may be a little while yet.

I added tracks today from a few CDs received or bought over the holiday period:

• Lynn Miles - Love Sweet Love
• Yusuf - An Other Cup
• JJ Cale and Eric Clapton - The Road to Escondido
• Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse

I also received the new Byrds box set for Christmas, so you'll be hearing some tracks from that soon, as well as the new Joan Osborne and some Celtic music from Éamonn Coyne & Kris Drever. I imagine that I'll start receiving a flurry of Celtic music in the mail over the next few weeks, as a lot of Celtic bands release in the beginning of the year in time for St. Pat's. I also received the new 3-CD Live from Studio A Volume 10 set from WCBE, and you'll be hearing new live tracks from The Kennedys, Chris Smither, and some other great artists. I also lucked into a 2-CD Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver retrospective CD for $3.99 while in Florida, so you'll be hearing some tracks from that one soon, too.

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival